Like-minded
by MeridianGrimm
Summary: Hakuba Saguru's curiosity is piqued by the sharpest seven-year-old he's ever met. SaguShin. [Oneshot, not shouta]


Disclaimer: I don't own DC or MK. Recently I read a fic with a brief interaction between Hakuba and Conan in the middle of a larger story, and suddenly wondered why no one else had thought to pair them together – every other combination of the Gosho Boys has been written as a couple. Seriously. I was curious enough to go and search for SaguShin fics and only found one by an author who had the same thought I did. I mean, they're both detectives and diehard Sherlock Holmes fanboys, and Saguru canonically seems to respect Conan even without uncovering his secret identity. I think Shinichi would appreciate that, and I think the intellectual stimulation that Conan provides would make Saguru gravitate towards the pocket-sized detective. Enjoy!

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Hearing a string of swear words coming out of the mouth of a seven-year-old was both horrifying and amusing. And Conan even seemed to know what they meant to some degree, though he spoke them calmly, as if he were commenting on the weather. Hakuba raised an eyebrow at the child as he pulled over a chair and began untying the knots that had the littlest detective dangling from a chandelier.

"I was so close_,_" Conan explained. "He nicked my gas mask before the heist started and my watch is gone."

"Your watch is around your ankle," Hakuba told him, catching Conan when the last of the rope slipped away. "Is it special?"

"You could say that. Kaitou Kid knows how much value I put in it, so tricking me into thinking he's stolen it probably tickled him pink." Hakuba looked down at the very serious child in his arms. _That's not a phrase most ordinary children would use._ Nor were the expletives, but that would be a very different conversation. Hakuba didn't know how to tell the otherwise polite child that he shouldn't repeat things that he heard from Mouri-san or Nakamori-keibu.

In the few times they'd met, Hakuba had always seen that Conan was extraordinary. He had command of a wide range of subjects and was always in the right place at the right time. At times he seemed more professional than the adults, especially the detective he was living with. "Knowing Kid, I don't doubt he was entertained by your distress, Conan-kun."

The comment prompted a smile as Conan slipped to the floor. "I'd never admit to having read Arsène Lupin in front of Kid fans, but I still remember how vexed I was when it's revealed that Lupin had stolen Holmes' watch during their first meeting." He laughed. "I can sympathize even more now."

Hakuba shook his head. "Maurice Leblanc didn't have permission to use Holmes as a character. I don't consider that canon."

"Me neither, but I still got angry about it." The smaller detective shrugged.

"How long ago did you read the series?" Conan was prevented from answering by the arrival of Mouri-san and his daughter Ran, the former joining Nakamori-keibu to examine Kid's point of escape. The girl swept Conan up into her arms, and Hakuba noticed a distinctly embarrassed expression flash on his face before it vanished. That was interesting. He'd never seen anything but complete composure on the boy's face. Maybe Conan didn't want to be held by his big-sister figure? Hakuba definitely remembered not wanting to be carried as a kid. The loss of freedom in movement had been irritating, not to mention humiliating.

"Conan-kun! I know Sonoko's uncle always insists that you come to heists, but you can't wander off like that. What if you'd gotten hurt? You're too young to be running around crime scenes." There was another flash of expression, this one dark, and Hakuba's curiosity was piqued.

"I'll take him, Mouri-san," he offered. "You can get your father; Kaitou Kid is long gone by now." She thanked him and passed Conan over. Seeing no accompanying embarrassment, Hakuba held off putting the child down.

"I thought I'd been good at hiding it," Conan commented. "You're sharp."

"Thank you." Conan opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. "What?"

"Nothing much. You took my compliment seriously. Usually when I praise someone, they brush it off because I'm seven and apparently don't know anything. That or they'll say 'I'm sure when you grow up you'll be talented too'," he warbled mockingly in a voice higher than his normal tone.

"Conan-kun," Hakuba said seriously, "I cannot even imagine what you will be when you grow up. You are a force to be reckoned with as you are."

He was rewarded with a radiant grin. "I appreciate it, Hakuba-niichan." Hakuba then tried to imagine what Conan would look like as a teenager. Absurdly, he kept coming up with images of Kuroba Kaito in glasses, but less mischievous-looking. There was no doubt that Conan would be even smarter than he was now, breathtakingly brilliant, eons beyond his classmates and professors. He'd think circles around any girl that tried to play him. Or boy. He could see the detective attracting attention from both sexes.

"You've got a weird look on your face. What are you thinking?"

"Trying to picture you in ten years."

All the humor drained from Conan's face and Hakuba felt him tense. "What do I look like?" he asked carefully.

"One of my classmates, strangely enough, though I hasten to add that regarding personality, you are nothing alike. He's…" Hakuba trailed off. "Well, Kuroba-kun claims to be Kid's number one fan because he's a magician too." The half-British detective had been public about his assertion that Kaito was Kid, but if Conan hadn't heard that, then Hakuba wasn't going to tell him. The kid would probably track Kaito down himself to get answers, and Hakuba wasn't going to lose to anyone.

"He'd have to fight Sonoko for the position of number one fan," Conan muttered.

"However crazy she is, Kuroba-kun would still win." Egotistic magician.

Conan chuckled. "I bet that starts a lot of fights between you two. Kid's number one fan and one of his detectives in the same classroom. Mix, let sit for ten minutes, and watch the havoc ensue."

"Oh, you have no idea. But not because you're a kid," he smoothly added. "It's simply that no one can quite imagine the chaotic cyclone that is Kuroba Kaito."

The pint-sized detective looked intrigued. "My school has a sports festival coming up on Friday," he mused. "I only have to be there for the soccer match in the morning, and then I could slip away. What school do you go to again?"

"I don't condone skipping class, Conan-kun."

Conan studied him from head to toe, which was difficult given his position on Hakuba's hip. "Ekoda," he concluded.

"What gave it away?"

"The sneakers." Hakuba had chosen them for their practicality over professionalism. After all, comfortable shoes were better for chasing thieves. "They have a Japanese brand on them, which means you didn't bring them from England. I don't remember you needing to borrow shoes this heist, so they're definitely yours." Everyone from the particular heist Conan was referencing had agreed to never speak of it directly again, and Conan grimaced as he mentioned it. "It's likely that you bought them shortly after you arrived in Japan, probably in the town where you live. That brand isn't a very common one, and the store that sells it has only one branch within reasonable driving distance of here. The branch is in Ekoda, so Ekoda High School is the most likely place for you to attend school."

"You're sharp," Hakuba echoed.

Conan paused, and then said sincerely, "Thank you for the lack of condescension. It means more than you know."

"I can understand to some degree. No one listens to you because of your age, except Hattori-kun. Well, as much as that hot-blooded detective listens to anyone, that is."

"Hattori and I have an understanding." After a moment, Conan flushed. "I mean, Heiji-niichan and I," he corrected. Hakuba blinked, and then remembered that Conan was seven and shouldn't have called the Osakan so familiarly. "Oh, and don't think I forgot about going to Ekoda."

"I'm wholly against truancy, mind you, but if you do happen to be in Ekoda in the near future, you might find Class 2-B an interesting place to visit."

"Hypothetically, I might be there by recess." Hakuba smiled before the Mouris returned and took the fascinating child away.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Hakuba was sure to position himself under the tall cherry tree near the school's entrance during recess on Friday. He'd just popped open his water bottle when a familiar bespectacled child poked his head around the gate. Conan relaxed upon spotting him and quickly joined him in the shade.

"How was the soccer match?"

"We beat the fifth-graders," Conan said smugly, pulling his own lunch out of a blue backpack.

"Your work, I assume?" He'd seen the mini detective's footwork during heists, though he'd yet to figure out where all those soccer balls came from – he'd just turn around and they'd be there, even though Hakuba had never seen Conan carrying them around.

"Some, but it takes the whole team to win a game."

"Very wise, Conan-kun." He opened his mouth to ask something else, but the sound of one Nakamori Aoko yelling at her childhood friend stopped him. He looked to see the pair moving closer to where he was sitting, clearly thinking to join him.

Hakuba watched Kaito catch sight of his smallest detective and freeze. "What are _you_ doing here, Ta–er, little boy," Kaito flubbed, recovering faster than Hakuba had expected. "Don't you have school? You know, at an _elementary_ school?"

"Edogawa Conan-kun is an exceptionally bright child and is transferring into our class," Hakuba said with a straight face. Kaito visibly paled, and he was the only one who understood why Hakuba burst into laughter at his expression.

"Oh. You were joking. That wasn't very nice, Hakuba."

"Not much fun from the other side, huh?"

"Are you… Kuroba Kaito?" Conan asked, an odd look on his face.

Kaito noticed it as well. "Did Hakuba tell you about me?"

"It's just that you look like… someone else I know."

Kaito threw Hakuba a nasty glance that promised pranks. "Have you been spouting your stupid theories again?"

"No. I simply mentioned that Conan-kun might look a bit like you in a decade and that you were a Kid fan. What theories are you talking about, Kuroba-kun?" He grinned. No way was Kaito going to bring up Kid further in front of _two_ of his detectives. Not, of course, that Conan-kun's word would have any more weight with the police than Hakuba's had, but intentionally bringing it up would be a stupid move.

Kaito was many things, but stupid was not one of them.

"Hakuba has this theory that I…" Kaito began, "… was replaced with a robot once." He shrugged theatrically. "I don't know if it's true, but I came back to school after being out with a cold and people told me that I'd been in class the previous day, acting very strangely."

"BaKaito! You tried to tell us that story _before_ Hakuba-kun joined our class! You can't even keep track of your pranks!"

"But Hakuba has all sorts of crazy ideas about me, so I thought he might look into it." He stuck his tongue out at the girl.

Conan turned to Hakuba skeptically. "This is your chaotic cyclone?"

Kaito caught the question and smiled wickedly. "Oh, Conan-kun, I haven't welcomed you properly to Ekoda High. Perhaps I could give you a _special magic show_."

_Uh-oh._ "I wouldn't –"

"You mean the pranks your friend mentioned? I could take anything _you_ could dish out," Conan said haughtily. "I'll bet you're not as good as Kaitou Kid… even if he is an insufferable thief." Hakuba and Kaito choked, and Aoko was pleased to find someone else who would stand up to Kaito.

"Conan-kun," Hakuba croaked, "I think maybe you shouldn't bait him."

The child's smile was about as innocent as Kaito's had been – which is to say, not at all. "I only bait people I know I can catch. And following the fishing metaphor, it was easy to find the right lure; you mentioned that Kaito-niichan does magic, and I see that he has three roses up his sleeve."

"Hakuba," Kaito said in a strangled voice, "is Conan-kun staying here the rest of the day?"

"I assume our teacher won't mind much – he's much quieter than you." And given that Conan had clearly unbalanced Kaito, Hakuba might bring him in more. What days did elementary schools have off that high schoolers didn't…?

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

"Well this sucks," Conan said as he and Hakuba dangled from a net that had been meant for Kid. Said thief had intentionally set it off to capture two of his detectives, and it wasn't low enough that a chair would be enough for someone to rescue them. They'd been running through the building's high-ceilinged ballroom.

Hakuba privately thought that this was revenge for bringing the pocket-sized detective to class with him. Conan had quickly picked up on Kaito's pattern and made smartass comments criticizing the magician's tricks in the back of the room, making the blonde detective stifle laughter. Again Hakuba had considered the little detective and wondered where a seven-year-old had learned to perfect the art of sarcasm.

He shifted the child so he was sitting more comfortably in Hakuba's lap, facing him. "It could be worse. We could have Kid in here with us." Now that _would_ be a nightmare, since Kaitou Kid could undoubtedly get out whenever he wanted to and would mess with them just for the fun of it before making his escape.

"Hmm, I suppose that's true. So what's new?" Conan said conversationally. At Hakuba's look, he added, "I'm bored, and I haven't thought of a way down yet, so I thought we could do question and answer."

"Hmm. I remember that you liked chemistry when you visited; we had a lab today. Kuroba-kun, of course, has been banned from touching anything." Conan laughed. "To be honest, my knowledge of chemistry is much more extensive than what is covered in class. I was reading this article in Todai's chemistry magazine –"

"I follow that one too. Which article?" They talked about science for a while and when they'd exhausted the subject, Hakuba remembered it was his turn to ask a question.

"Are both of your parents as intelligent as you are?"

Conan looked away. "I'd rather not talk about my life before moving in with the Mouris."

"Oh." Hakuba realized that he was disappointed. He wanted to know more about Conan. It wasn't strange that his detective's curiosity focused on such an interesting specimen, but the driving force behind his desire to know seemed stronger than curiosity. "Then I'll pick something different: how did you end up as Hattori-kun's assistant for the Detective Koushien?"

"He planned it without telling me, the idiot." He rolled his eyes, a wisp of a smile crossing his face.

"Did you meet him on a case?"

"You could say that. We've worked a couple dozen cases together – whenever we hang out, bodies literally fall from the sky. It's annoying as hell."

"I can't believe you're friends with such a temperamental and incompetent investigator."

"He says the same, you being stuffy and arrogant and all." The kid winked to lessen the blow. Hakuba took that as confirmation that the smaller detective considered him a friend.

After realizing that no one had passed by in the hour they'd been up there, Conan called Ran and asked about the situation below. She was appalled, thinking that he'd gone home with Agasa or one of the Detective Boys, who'd shown up just as the heist started. She apologized a million times for leaving him there and Conan, embarrassed, kept trying to hang up. Ran promised to get ahold of Nakamori-keibu and the owners of the building to come get them, preferably with a tall ladder. Since the lights in the ballroom hadn't been on to begin with, neither Hakuba nor Conan had realized that everyone had left.

Hakuba dozed off while they waited and woke up with a warm body lying on his chest. Conan slept peacefully, glasses askew and snuggling up to the taller detective. It was the most childlike Hakuba had ever seen him act. Conan looked adorable. Without knowing why, Hakuba wrapped his arms around the boy and held him tighter, drifting off again until help finally came.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

"Oh my God, he's _dead."_ Hakuba winced. Of course someone had been murdered at the Sherlock Holmes convention. It was an abysmally stupid idea to kill someone here, if you thought about it – there were a _lot_ of amateur detectives present, all eager to prove their observation skills – but then, murder was a senseless idea to begin with.

Hakuba waded through the crowd that had instantly sprung up in front of the coatroom. "Don't touch the body," he heard, and spotted none other than Edogawa Conan kneeling beside the corpse of a Holmes cosplayer. The body had been shoved underneath a bench that was practically dripping in tweed Inverness capes. The guest who'd found the body must've shifted the coats just enough to notice something strange. A typical deerstalker hat had been knocked off the victim's head during the murder, so the blow to the right side of his head was visible. There were no other readily apparent injuries, so Hakuba mentally filed "blunt force trauma" as the cause of death. The smaller detective had gloves on and was searching the body for identification.

"Hello, Conan-kun."

Conan spared him a glance and a nod, then looked over at a round, older man and a disinterested little girl. "Get everyone else back. The woman who found him already called the police and the convention hosts have cordoned off the exits, so if the culprit's in the crowd, he or she can't go anywhere."

The other child folded her arms imperiously. "Don't take all day, Edogawa-kun. I have more tests planned and I can't have the schedule interrupted. Agasa and I were supposed to buy groceries today too."

"Whatever, Haibara. Hakuba… niichan, what time is it?"

"It was 1:17pm and forty seconds when I heard the first scream. Only three minutes and twelve seconds have passed since then."

From behind them, someone shouted, "_You're_ the criminal." Both detectives turned to see a conventioneer in Holmes costume pointing at another attendee. There was murmuring around him. "It's obvious! You're the only one dressed as Moriarty, and of course if you were planning to kill a Holmes figure you would wear the professor's garb!"

Hakuba and Conan shared a look of _"Are they serious?"_ before the other Holmes fans began to poke holes in his theory:

"There's no murder weapon on him."

"That's ridiculous, the killer could be anyone."

"You have no evidence."

Conan sighed heavily. "This is going to turn into a spectacle. I hope Megure-keibu gets here soon." Hakuba privately agreed. "Perhaps we should ask for the security tapes. I don't see any cameras in here, but there's a reception desk just outside, so a least one of the cameras aimed at it must have the coatroom door in its view."

"We can't exactly leave at the moment, Conan-kun." The corpse would be swarmed by interested bystanders.

"You've got more authority here than me, so you stay. I'll go check the tapes and let you know what I find." Hakuba nodded and the boy vanished into the mass of people. Megure's arrival was a relief, and when the officers were positioned, Hakuba sent him after Conan to the security booth.

"Three people went into the coatroom after the victim," Conan told Hakuba when he returned. "Megure-keibu is gathering them now." The woman costumed as Irene Adler knew the victim through a friend and had been on a few dates with him. It was quickly revealed that he'd been inappropriate to her after a few too many drinks and she'd been furious. A lady crossdressing as Holmes was the victim's coworker, and he had gotten the promotion that she had worked toward. A short man dressed as Watson had loaned money to the victim and wanted it back according to the timeline they'd discussed.

Hakuba spread their possessions out on a cloth. From Adler there was a lighter, watch, phone, and wallet. Lady-Holmes had a handful of pens, note paper, a pack of gum, and her wallet. Watson carried a pocketwatch (Hakuba approved), phone, wallet, a Styrofoam coffee cup, and a coffee-soaked handkerchief.

"Nothing here looks strong enough to leave that mark," Hakuba murmured to Conan.

"My apologies; I neglected to mention that the murder weapon was on the body. The blood was wiped off, but it didn't make sense for the victim to be carrying two of the item so I'm guessing the murderer left it to keep from incriminating him or herself."

"And it was?"

"An antique magnifying glass, very heavy and large enough to do some damage if swung hard enough."

The two stared at the belongings. "I know who killed him," they said together.

As the left the scene twenty minutes later, Hakuba sighed. "Watson, in the coatroom, with the oversized magnifying glass." The macabre humor escaped neither detective. "Well," he concluded, "this was probably the most _memorable _convention I've attended."

"Eh, it makes my top two, but I'll tell you the other story another time. Conan Doyle must be rolling over in his grave right now." The Watson cosplayer had wiped the blood off the magnifying glass with his handkerchief and had tried to cover it up by soaking the cloth with black coffee. However, it had seemed strange to the two detectives that he'd taken the coffee with him into the coatroom: how could one put on a coat properly while holding it? He came to the convention with friends; why hadn't he asked one of them to hold the cup while he grabbed his coat?

Hakuba laughed at the child's comment. "You were named for Conan Doyle, right?"

"Yep. Dad loves mysteries, always has. I have no idea if we're related to Edogawa Rampo, though."

"Hmm, that would explain a lot. With a name like yours, you couldn't be anything but a detective."

"Sometimes I'm even a detective before I'm me."

"I can understand that." _The hours staying up to crack a "locked room" trick, the running around to check alibis, staring at gruesome deaths for clues even though you want to look away…_ Hakuba frowned. Conan shouldn't have to deal with that darkness at such a young age. Kids should be carefree, running around playing games (not that Hakuba had, of course, but it seemed the proper thing for children to do). Hakuba just wanted to wrap the smaller detective up and put him in a place where no death could follow.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

"Hey, Ku– Conan-kun, what're you doin' here?" Conan kicked the Osakan lightly (for him) in the shin, pointing at Hakuba and explaining that they were on the kidnapper case too and they should pool information. Hakuba observed their interactions with a strange, uncomfortable twisting in his stomach. He'd known that Hattori and Conan were friends first, but…

_Wait. Is that jealousy? Over Conan?_ Conan could be friends with whomever he wanted to; it wasn't any of _Hakuba's_ business. He wasn't Conan's mother.

Conan was just so absorbing; of course the half-British detective wanted to spend more time with him. He was an intriguing little kid with a mind well beyond his age. Hakuba tuned back into their conversation to hear Hattori stumble over Conan's name again and hear the child quietly threaten him. What was that about?

The mystery deepened later when Hakuba overheard the two talking about an antidote. "Has the little girl figured it out yet?"

"No, she's still working. It would be worlds easier if we had the original poison and her notes, but you know likely we are to get those. I might be able to coax them out of Vermouth, but then I'd owe her, which is not a place I'd like to be. Plus, it doesn't solve the original problem of _them._"

"You'd be back t' normal. It'd be a start."

Conan sighed. "I know. And we want the same thing… but that doesn't make her one of the good guys." After a pause, he continued, "Let's talk about this later."

"What, afraid your 'best friend' will come back?"

"Don't be so touchy, Hattori. You're both my friends." Hakuba knew that he should knock and announce his presence and that it was ungentlemanly to eavesdrop, but he was immobile, listening.

"He doesn't know who you really are." Hakuba raised his eyebrows. That was an interesting revelation.

"And we get along anyway. _You_ didn't particularly like me when I was just that brat getting in the way of your important investigation."

"Oi, I said I was sorry, and I was looking for _you._" Conan laughed in reply and they changed the subject. Hakuba, recognizing that he'd be unable to keep a neutral expression, walked away. He appreciated Conan's defense of his character, but he was left with more things to consider. Given the conversation, Hakuba deduced that Conan had been poisoned and that the effects were long-lasting. There was someone else who had the poison they needed, but Conan wasn't asking for their help so it was very likely a ring of criminals. The woman Conan mentioned was part of the group, but was still in contact with him. They hadn't gone to the police, so the group was large enough to possibly have informants there. Hmm.

That night, Hakuba accidentally-on-purpose entered his father's password into a computer at police headquarters. A few keystrokes brought up everything the Japan police had on Edogawa Conan – which wasn't much in personal history, but was practically a library regarding cases he'd been involved in. Accounts of him varied depending on who was writing the report, but most of Megure-keibu's officers credited Conan's observations, remarking that the boy's occasional off-hand questions were helpful. "Occasional?" he said out loud. There was nothing sporadic about Conan's cleverness.

A closer look at the documents revealed certain inconsistencies. They were minor things, which most people wouldn't have noticed, but Hakuba zoomed in and scrolled over the documents, and came to the uncomfortable conclusion that they were very well faked.

Who was Edogawa Conan?

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

The culprit was backing away from Hakuba, his gun to Conan's head. "Don't move," the woman said. Hakuba couldn't have moved anyway. Fear had frozen him faster than a dip in arctic waters. The cold, logical part of him that wasn't panicking noticed that his concern wasn't merely that for an innocent in danger, it was because it was _Conan_ that Hakuba was so frightened. _Do something,_ the analytical part urged him. _What good is that brain of yours if you can't use it to problem-solve?_

Conan didn't even look worried, and that made Hakuba feel even worse. The boy was so confident in their combined talents that he was certain they'd think their way out of this. Hakuba couldn't see anything but the gun against Conan's temple.

He watched, still frozen, as the culprit changed positions to get a better grip on Conan. The brilliant child flashed a shark smile, stretching his hands to one side and pressing a button on his watch. With a small "snick," the culprit relaxed and fell over, asleep.

Hakuba blinked, processing the action. "You have sleeping darts in your watch. Conan…" He was about to ask him who had given him something so dangerous, but then realized it had saved the child's life and scrambled to change his question. "Is this why Kid pretended to steal your watch?"

"Correct." Conan seemed unfazed by the events, and Hakuba was relieved. That the child had managed to keep a cooler head during the attempted escape didn't matter anymore. Conan's eyes darkened at whatever expression Hakuba had on his face. "You think I'm too young to be dealing with this?"

Hakuba considered lying for a moment, knowing that if he answered truthfully, the detective would think that Hakuba was looking down on him. "I was terrified."

"I can protect myself," Conan asserted. _But you're seven,_ Hakuba thought_._ The pocket-sized detective could see he wasn't convinced. He sighed. "All right. I'll show you the other tricks I have up my sleeve."

"You shouldn't have to need these."

"I may have chosen to be a detective, but even if I hadn't, I still run into more cases than the average citizen." He paused, Hakuba noting that whatever he was going to say next was clearly difficult for him. "I'm going to trust you with my gadgets, so I need you to trust me back. Let me prove that I can handle this profession."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Hakuba eventually fell into the habit of calling Conan whenever he came to Beika on a case. They'd make quick work of the murder case and then walk around, chatting about whatever they felt like. Most times they'd end up on the park benches with ice cream, people-watching.

This particular day, though, Hakuba was feeling pensive. Conan was talking about one of the recent cases he'd solved, a multiple homicide, and Hakuba took the time to really look at the peculiar child who inspired affection in anyone who wasn't a criminal. He was fairly certain by this point that his feelings for the tiny detective went further than friendship, even though he'd long hoped they didn't. Crushing on a child felt very, very wrong. _Maybe I should cut back on how often I visit him,_ he thought. _It's entirely possible that my hormones are attaching their own interpretations to a person with whom I spend a lot of time. If I step back from the situation, my logic might reassert itself._

As he was about to outline this plan in his mind, Conan unknowingly fixed the problem for him. "I'm going to be leaving the Mouris' soon."

"What? When?" _Why would you do that?_

"Very soon, possibly the end of this week. I have something very important to do and I…. One way or another, I won't be coming back. I wanted to tell you that I value our friendship and that I will miss our conversations like this."

"Where are you going?"

"I can't tell you. But I can promise that after I leave, you will never see Edogawa Conan again." That hurt more than Hakuba could've imagined. His chest felt clenched, and breathing was suddenly difficult.

He struggled to reply. "Wherever you end up, then… stay in touch. You have my mobile number and email." Hakuba got up and left before he said something imprudent about the fondness he held for the little detective. And minutes after he left, he regretted it.

He'd never said goodbye to the bright-eyed child who'd been a better friend to him than any he could remember.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Three weeks, two days, six hours, eight minutes, and sixteen-point-one seconds had passed, and Hakuba was bored. He had the cold case files, of course, and Kid's antics to worry over, but even standing in front of the latest heist target, Hakuba couldn't rouse any interest in catching the thief. One of the taskforce members mentioned that another detective would be joining them tonight, a Kudo Shinichi. The name was vaguely familiar; he'd heard Hattori mention him as the Detective of the East during the Detective Koushien. Perhaps he'd be interesting.

The young man who walked in the door with Hattori could have been Kaito's twin. _His better-looking twin,_ Hakuba thought with some amusement. This person's hair was straight and laid flat except for a silly little cowlick in the back. His face was a little more angled, his eyes more focused. His eye roll at some comment from Hattori was incredibly familiar. The Osakan looked at Hakuba and nodded in acknowledgement, and the other figure locked eyes with Hakuba. Deep blue eyes…

"Conan?" The words popped out of Hakuba's mouth before he could censor them. _This_ was what the first-grader would look like all grown up.

Hattori reacted first, smacking his friend on the shoulder. "Hey, I thought you said you didn't tell him, Kudo."

"I didn't," Kudo replied coolly. "He _does_ happen to be a detective, though, and the glasses were a paper-thin disguise. I'm almost offended that more people didn't figure it out – though of course I'm grateful, too, because more people guessing it would've been a decidedly bad thing."

"Who are you?" Hakuba asked, even though Hattori had just called the teen Kudo.

"Formerly Edogawa Conan, though I'd like to keep that among as few people as possible. I am Kudo Shinichi again," he said with a bow.

"You were a child. You were a child and now you're not." Hakuba narrowed his gaze at the teen, stuck because for the first time, logic was failing him.

Hattori sniggered. "I think you broke him, Kudo."

"I missed you," Hakuba finally said, and then wanted to slap himself. He sounded like an overly attached boyfriend. _Well, at least he's not too young for you now,_ some small, traitorous part of his brain reminded him gleefully. "I'd begun to get used to having intelligent conversations with someone," he recovered. "I could hardly have that with Hattori-kun, now could I?"

Conan – no, _Shinichi_ – smiled, and it was the same as when he had been seven. "I'll explain it later. Right now, we have a thief to catch." Hakuba's hormones, held in check by his conscience's strict disproval of wanting a seven-year-old, suddenly rushed forward. His brain took his analytical skills (used for assessing suspects) and put them to a different purpose. He noticed the smaller details about the detective now: Shinichi's stride suggested athleticism, his clothes that he placed usefulness over personal appearance for a heist. He kept glancing at his hands when he thought no one was looking, as if surprised at their size. The dried mud and motor oil on the hem of his pants said that he'd been on a case today, the too-loose shirt that he'd lost some weight since his first time around as a high school detective. _Everything_ suggested that he was a healthy, highly attractive teenager that Hakuba would love to get his hands and lips on. It was suddenly very hard to think about anything else.

And that was probably why he got trapped again, this time in a supply closet. His hormonal side was overjoyed that Shinichi was stuck in there too. Keeping his hands to himself was going to be difficult.

"I didn't think I was going to see you again," Hakuba said to break the silence. _Touchhimtouchhimtouchhimtouchhim_. _Do it NOW._

"I wasn't sure I was going to live through the takedown of the Organization. I didn't want to promise and then not come back."

"Does that have something to do with that poison you and Hattori-kun were talking about a while back?"

"You heard? Yes, it does."

"But you're safe now."

"Yes."

"Good." _Jump him. Kiss him until he can't say no_. Well, Hakuba didn't want _that_, but maybe a short peck, to gauge if he was interested… He leaned forward cautiously, sliding one hand around to the small of Shinichi's back and the other to the back of his head. Tentatively, he found Shinichi's lips and lightly pressed them with his own.

The response he got was wholly unexpected. Shinichi surged forward and fiercely kissed back, pushing Hakuba up against the wall. His hands ran up Hakuba's chest and then around him, ending their journey behind his back. Hakuba was so shocked that he didn't do anything except keep kissing Shinichi. Frissions of pleasure danced down his spine. After some time, Shinichi nonverbally asked Hakuba's tongue to come out and play, and Hakuba was very aware of blood rushing to other parts of his body.

Shinichi broke off for a moment to catch his breath. "Do you know what being stuck as a seven-year-old has done to my hormones?"

"Uh, no." Hakuba was a bit beyond eloquent speech at the moment.

"I'm a hot mess. Just checking, but you do actually like me, right? You're not just horny? Because I like you, Hakuba, as well as being completely turned on by you right now."

With difficulty, Hakuba recovered some of his ability to speak. "Yes, I do like you. Romantically."

"Then I have a proposition for you: we get all of our hormones out of the way tonight, and then I'll take you on dates like we used to go on and we'll slowly fall in love over clever conversation and good food. Sound good?"

"'Like we used to go on'?"

Shinichi laughed. "I guess you didn't think of them as dates since I was Conan."

"Right. Well, the falling in love part is already taken care of on my part, but I'm actually quite okay with succumbing to lust this evening."

"Kiss me," Shinichi commanded, and Hakuba did.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

From Meri: I only meant for this to be like a page or two... and it turned into this. It's been sitting on my computer a week because my life just got crazy-busy. That's also why I'm still not done with the next H-K Files. Also, I promise I wasn't thinking about the canon case with Holmes aficionados when I wrote the murder case, I was just trying to think of places where Conan and Hakuba might run into each other… and a Holmes convention made sense. Then I remembered the case and made a quick reference to it :) The last scene totally surprised me as I was writing it, let me know how I handled it - did the physical-attraction thing come out of nowhere? It's the main reason this is T. Please review!


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